Shrek and I....(part 2 of recent Singapore trip)

getting lost down under..

Ok, not so down under and Shrek wasn't lost. Just myself. Driving in an unfamiliar territory (this mini island called Singapore...hehehe), I had with me some googled maps as well as some internet directions to get to my ex-boss' place. Dinner was scheduled around 7pm, so I had a good 90-100 minutes to get to the other end of the island. Which, is way more than enough..

Unless you get lost..During peak traffic period. It didn't help that the internet instructions were somewhat ambiguous, or required some basic knowledge of Singapore roads. While I have been to Singapore multiple times, this is the first time I am driving down on my own, unassisted/guided. Ok, minimal assistance.

Anyway, right out of the Customs area I had an immediate crossroads which thanks to lack of split second manoevering I didn't take an exit I shouldn't have. I ended up driving along the highway and eventually saw signboards that was familiar (as in noted in the internet directions) and began familiarising myself with the acronyms for Singapore hgihways. Off my head, they have PIE, CPE, errr......Only 3 weeks and I am already forgeting details.. Sigh. A sure sign of growing old.

Back to following internet directions, I manage to get onto the next highway without much glitch although I was travelling way under the permitted speed limit. Clear indication of a noob in the city. Nevertheless my next direction got me in trouble. From what I can recall, I was suppose to stay in PIE (and expressway) but it referenced Toa Payoh. Silly me thought that I needed to exit it and found myself off PIE and inside Toa Payoh surburbs. Took me a good couple of minutes to realise things were amiss as I couldn't find anything relevant to my next direction. An sms to my ex-boss to indicate I am lost and I proceeded to double back onto PIE. Had I any local street knowledge I would have been able to exit PIE much more ahead rather than where I left off, but alas, noob is as noob be...

Returning to the expressway I was again conned (by my silly self) to take the next exit, I think Paya Besar...(something like that) as it was indicated in the directions. Unfortunately for me, it was again just an indication that PIE would cut through that area, but I wasn't suppose to get off the expressway. This time I realised my mistake much sooner. Unfortunately, before I could make an appropriate (and somewhat late) change of lanes I had this Singaporean car honking me for my late manoever. I mean, the light was red and besides him, there were no other cars. Clearly Singaporeans have little patience. Especially this bloke. He even proceeded to move to the lane on the left to level wih my car and give me an eyeball. Funnily, he exited far left when the lane I was on proceeds to the right. Jerk.. :D

After a good turn or 3 I returned to PIE and told myself, no matter what happens I'll stick to this expressway until the very end where it's suppose to exit to CPE (another expressway). All the while I keep seeing signboards that say I'm headed towards Changi Airport and for all the wrong reasons I kept having the idea that Changi Airport is on the west side of the island while I'm suppose to be heading east. Internally I was torn, with my gut telling me to change directions but my brain saying enough gut moves, just stick to the plan.

Luckily for me at the end of the expressway was clear indications to the CPE and this time it gave me the option to go away from Changi Airport. So I figured my gut was right anyway (despite later realising how wrong I was). My next instruction was even more confusing. I was given the address as Marine Vista, which, by Malaysian standards, sounded like an condo name. Unfortunately, it turns out to be a road name for a smaller road.

The exit I was directed to go to didn't get me directly onto Marine Vista but the turning before it. The reason was that I was coming from the east, the exit directly to Marine Vista only existed if I came from the West (which would cause further confusion later). I could already see the scores of high rise condos around me and felt confident I was near, but I just couldn't find anything that would lead me closer to my destination. Time to use up my last helpline; Call the ex-boss.

Informing my position wasn't all that difficult, except that my ex-boss thought I came from the West, not East. So I supposedly overshot and had to exit back to the highway and move backwards (in terms of the directions, I was exit right, but from my perspective, I needed to exit left...) So I did exactly that and turned up even further from my destination.

I rarely feel lost. I felt DAMN LOST now. The only thing I had going for me was this internal sense of direction which I trusted (yeah, even boasted too) very much. From a complete lost position, I felt I was further off than initially suggested and took a risk to just drive on the main road that I was on. I thought to myself, "I'm going to need a little luck now." Time to score some critical rolls with my luck/direction score/skill. I believe I did, as somehow I saw the signboard Marine Parade, which was something mentioned in the additional instructions that came by after I got lost the second time.

Driving along that road I realised now that I have gone a full circle around my destination; As in instead of overshooting the first time, I undershot my exit, only to then reenter even further away from my destination because of the misconception of my position relative to my destination. I then drove aimlessly pass my destination only to find my way around.

So luck aside, I found myself on the other side of the road where my ex-boss was waiting for me. Initial plans were for me to drop off my luggage before we head to the dinner venue; my time spent groping around Singapore meant we'd have to go straight away and leave the 'lets check out the place much later'. Here comes the other funny part.

I'm been holding out that my ex-boss was a lady all through my writing I believe. If I let on about it earlier, then my bad. But for me to deliver the punchline now required me to indicate that it's a she. A brief description is that she's a somewhat typical chinese female in her forties, I believe. To make things easier for she decided she would wait for me at the main road nearby the bus stop outside the condo (or apartment? hmm...). I've seen my ex-boss before and my impression of her was as she is. Middle aged chinese female. For the fact that she was once a lawyer and worked in the same 'field' as I do now gave me the impression her attire would be somewhat...Old fashioned?

So there was this female which was in shorts and sleeveless with pony tails standing my the side of the road and in my erred mind I go,"Now where's my ex-boss? She said my the bus stop? Better drive towards the bus stop and look." I didn't give that youthful hip looking lady a second look!

Luckily there was a bus in front of me, so I stopped and waited for the bus to leave before seeing if this was the right bus stop. As I stopped my ex-boss rang me but disconnected immediately before I picked up the call. I was confused. Suddenly I realised there was that very same female I dismissed as some young chick running towards my car ( I think with arms flailing) and it finally dawn upon me..."That's her, you silly boy!" My ex-boss asked if I even saw her in the first place and I could bring about telling her I did but dismissed her as some teeny bopper....

I sure get my fair share of embarassing moments everytime I travel..Once she got on the car it was much easier to get to the dinner venue as she could direct my way. While she's not been in Singapore for awhile, she definitely knew Singapore much better than the noob me.

Dinner went as planned and food was so so. It was a beach side restaurant and 8 of us had a simple and talkative dinner. By 10pm ish the restaurant was asking for last orders, signalling it's time to go. Suprisingly no one decided to go drinking. I guess aside from the attires, everyone was rather homely type (or didn't want to show the crazy side of things to the people there...Alcohol does that, you know...)

A short drive back and we decided to have a quick teh tarik first before entering the condo area as parking before 11pm was by hour, after 11pm was until the next morning. Parking in Singapore is quite expensive. It seems like over the years teh tarik has become quite a norm there, so we found ourselves going to a nearby place for it. A short chat to update latest work stuff (mainly bitching about some colleagues and their incompetences...:D) and it was time to get back to the condo.

Oh, I haven't seen it yet. I should describe it. But I'm way past the number of words per post...So it'll have to be another time then!

Next up: The Condo, The Food and the Great Revelation!!!! :D :D

About a ....(Part 1)

trip down to Singapore last weekend....

Well, looks like I've been able to keep up with traveling to that country that I supposedly so loathe. The people, in general, at least. The country is actually quite ordered and nice.

In any case, enough talking about same old same old...The trip down last weekend was quite different from the previous trips...Here's a few reasons:

1) I was driving down...ON MY OWN...(Ok, I went with Shrek..But I'm sure he doesn't mind me not actually counting him... :p)

2) I wasn't there on business or for some event that I was in some way a part of. I was going there with no other reason but to eat...Eat..and EAT!!!

I actually had some photos taken, but somehow I failed to get around uploading the pictures. So when I do, maybe revisit this and have some silly fun on the silly pictures I take (hint hint, I don't think there was anyone in the pictures..).

Now the main excuse for me to go down was to join in a farewell dinner of my ex-boss, who, while was quite unfortunate to be retrenched by my company and inadvertably realised how despite all the talk about employees being important et all, realised that in times like these (yes, my company is affected by the whole economic crash in the USA) everyone's so busy covering their own ass they forget to do the decent thing; retrench people with dignity. They shy around the subject, make it all hush hush yet when the shit hits the fan, they act as though they didn't know it was coming despite being informed like aeons ago. Earlier in my working life I still believed that sometimes leaders/bosses don't get the news that we expect them to get as much as we expect them to, but over the years I've come to know that a leader that's ill informed is a poor leader. A good leader tends to get information from various sources and when dealing with retrencment/downsizing, if they're not part of the plan then they would have contributed in it. Hence, they would have KNOWN..

Back to my ex-boss, who unfortunately only rejoined the company around 2 years back so would only get a small package, initially took the news quite hard. As with anyone who is forced to undergo a change in their lives, especially when in comes to losing a source of income, she was quite unhappy with the news. But over time she saw the better side of the news. Coupled with the fact that despite being told to go within 1 month of the announcement, she was asked to stay for another 6 months, giving her more time to clear up the stuff and look for another job. While she has yet to reemploy herself, I hear she's lined up good prospects and wishing her best of luck. In any case, she's enjoying the extended holiday where the only reason it will end is because she chooses too; Not because the annual leaves approved only so much or something needs to be done back at work...

Oops. Supposed to talk about the trip..hehe..

Now dinner was on a Friday and for some reason the Singapore Government decided that they'll let cars from Malaysia drive over for free if it's from 5pm to 2am daily. Why? I don't know. Maybe they want travellers to not come into the city during working hours. Since getting past Customs at 5pm would be just nice for me to reach dinner time around 7pm, I had to time my drive nicely so that I do not arrive in Johor Baru too early or too late.

For those unfamiliar, the drive is from KL - JB - SG and the distance is around 400KM thereabouts. I racked up a good 900KM for my whole trip. Which was good exercise for Shrek. I expected the drive to take about 4 hours bar any jams along the highway. I left my office (yes, I ws working on Friday) around 11.45am and decided to eat lunch along the highway. At first I wanted to have McDonalds at one of those drive through outlets, but I missed the outlet along the highway and ended up with 2 buns instead. I bought a Snickers bar, but didn't eat it until I reached the causeway.

The drive down was largely uneventful. Trying hard to abide by the speed limit and keeping to the fact that I needed to arrive at the causeway after 5pm, it was quite a carefree drive. Shrek doesn't go very fast, so at 110KM/H he was quite worked up but stable. I had 2 short stops along the way, mostly to relieve myself and to change from shoes to slippers. Do not drive long distance with shoes unless they're superbly comfortable..Have mercy on your right foot...

Despite all my attempts to be on time, my inner anxiety of being late made me arrive Johor Baru by 4.15pm. With time to kill, I went petrol kiosk hunting so that I have a full tank when I cross over to Singapore. Luckily for me, I'm not restricted by Singaporean laws that require the petrol tanks to be of a certain amount when crossing over, either way...Unfortunate, for the very fact that I didn't reasearch JB at all, I ended up driving round and round the city eventually ending up at the same petrol kiosk I spotted on the opposite side of the road. Then I decided to make another big round before going towards the malaysian Immigration complex as I prepare my travel towards Singapore.

It wasn't after 5pm, however. But as much as I wanted to save SGD 20 by crossing over after 5pm, I was getting jittery waiting for time to pass by. I clearly have issues staying put. So I crossed the Malaysian Customs 20 minutes ahead of time. Nothing much happened except I notice that there were a large number of cars stopping at the side. I guess I'm not the only one intending to not pay. Eventually a traffic police came over to 'encourage' us to move along and stop waiting.

Passing through Customs in Singapore was quite a breeze. Luckily from there onwards I DID research...Somewhat...Now, if only even having some directions and a print out of the way to meet my ex-boss I'd not get lost....

But then again, I expected to get lost since I'm driving in a foreign country for the first time...... :D

.....To Be Continued...

Not so much an Epiphany

I was driving back early last Friday from work. Early as in around 4.30pm or so. The intention was solely to avoid the jam.

Taking my usual route, where at a point I will be on a 4 lane main road, I was flabergasted that there was a jam. I was on the second lane (from the right) which was one of 2 lanes that leads to the next road on my way back home. The other lane that also leads straight to the next road for me was the fast lane, which at this point wasn't moving all that fast either. The 3rd and 4th lane were options, but near the end of the road I would have to cut back in and in a jam, that's generally not a nice thing to do.

But who says I'm nice? :p

But my ability to decide on what lane to swerve into was limited by the fact that 2 vehicles in front of me was this big lorry obscuring my view. Without the ability to see further up front, I could not really tell if the lanes on my left were actually freer and would be feasible to take those lanes, at least all the way until the end. I could only see the cars zooming by, but without photographic memory i couldn't tell for sure if I've seen those cars before and that my slow crawl towards the end of the road, at some point I may have actually took over them. I manage to check that the fast lane was moving slower than me at the moment.

Throwing the idea of taking the left lanes so that I can get out of the jam sooner and staying on the same lane and just waiting it out, I failed to capitalise on all the opportunities that came and went to take the left lanes. Eventually even the car in front of me left. Now I am directly behind the lorry, further impairing my view up ahead. I have been on the lane for over 15 minutes and was still awhile before I reached the end of the road. Usually this stretch takes less than 3 minutes to get through, now it seems like it's taking forever. My impatience got the better of me eventually and I ended up not taking the left lanes, but taking the fast lane when I noticed that the car I was tracking was no longer around or behind me.

After a 30 minute crawl it seems like the whole thing was a result of an accident way in front..

So what's with the epiphany?

Here's life, or a situation. There are typically a few ways I can get through life/situation; The unpreferred way(slow lane), the tried and tested way(s) (middle lanes), or high risk way(fast lane). Depending on what type of person I am and also depending how I wanted to get through life/situation, I would be in the lane you're most comfortable.

But what happens when I'm caught in a jam? When the lane I'm on isn't progressing the way I expected it? I'd look around and see if the other lanes would give me a better option. Now, the standard expectation is that the slow lanes will always be slow and the fast lane will be faster. But in a jam, I'd never know really. Depending on what's causing the jam, what is the fastest lane could very well be the slowest, and vice versa. That's what looking further ahead helps. As well as looking at other options.

There comes the next stumbling block. What if that BIG FAT LORRY is right in front of me? I can't look forward and can only assess the lanes (options) based on what I can see beside me (present) and behind me (past). Will I take a risk? If I do, which risk will I take? More importantly, will I be indecisive and spend too much time wondering if I should switch lanes (options) and end up spending too much time getting stuck behind that BIG LORRY?

Now, there's no telling that the other lanes will be faster, aside from what I can judge now and what I know of the lanes before. So I could very well switch and end up in a bigger jam that I did before. But the moral of the story is that if I don't try them out, I'll never know. All I'll ever see is this big fat Lorry blocking my way and for all I know, the whole jam could have been because of the lorry. I couldn't see in front, how could I tell?

In conclusion, life can be like a drive down a road. When in a jam and there's no telling if the lane you're on will get you to your destination (in time), assess your options and make a decision quickly. More importantly, once the decision is made, stick to the results and quit blaming/regretting the decision. If the choice garnered a poorer result, reassess; Switch lanes again if you have too. The only thing that would have happened was your continued attempt to find the best lane. Unless you're happy being stuck behind the big fat lorry...There is nothing wrong with being happy...:D

I'm happy behind the big fat lorry in life, but not when I'm driving.. :D

45 days ago...

Was my last blog entry...

I just haven't been feeling like blogging. While that's shoould mean that things aren't stressful or depressing for me, it unfortunately isn't. Just that the depression is cope-able......

In any case, a chance meeting with good old Barry after like maybe months....was truly enjoyable. Though I'm not so sure about his significant other..hehe...We actually went to a Japanese restaurant that, in my recollection, was probably the first Japanese restaurant I went to. I also recall that he was the one who brought me there, back a good 12/13 years ago..

The good old days. When money was scarce but all the experience was enjoyable. Where travelling hours on busses were acceptable and having to wait 15 minutes isn't such a waste of time...

Now I may have more money but I have lost my patience, lost my appreciation for many things I used to...

Need to keep those feet firmly planted on the ground....


Oh, another person quoted that a person should be focusing on the revenue, not the expenses in a way to obtain what they want in life. Well, that only works for things that you can buy with money and it will be a never ending cycle of always wanting more because you keep on wanting to get more. That school of thought, while seemingly positive and progressive, leads people to a never ending cycle where needs are never met. I still prefer the 'pessimist' school of thought, where it's not about getting all that you want or the endless pursuit of them, but a decision to curtail those wants so that life can stop somewhere. Because while our thoughts seems endless, our lives aren't. There's no point having and endless search and hunt for things when I can't stop and smell my flowers.

I'd rather have just one pot of flowers, but I spend the rest of my time nuturing and admiring that one pot of flowers. I don't want to be going after a plot of land, acres of flowers yet never have the time to enjoy the beauty of the flowers since it's a never ending task to maintain those acres of flowers. Oh, having other people maintaining it for you may seem to be the answer, but if you aren't the person doing it, then those flowers really don't belong to you. You own them, but they don't belong to you. For the ones spending their sweat and blood are the ones actually doing the work, not some hotshot manager pointing the fingers to have things done....

hmm...I should have another go at positive thinking sometime...But not today..Today I should continue working on my pot of flowers...

A Losing Battle...

Today must be one of the worst days of my emotional life.

I feel like caving in..I feel like giving up.

I feel like there's no more reason to keep going on. Not the way I wish to.

I feel I am lost and will never be found.

I fear I am losing resolve, that I'm cornered without a way out.

I don't want to fall, I don't want to lose. But I don't think I can take it anymore..


Time to let go?


Oh, in case anyone reading this gets really funny ideas, I'm trying to not have to date...:P

Sarcasm..

To some, I've too much of it. To others, I've not got enough..

I've always been a quick thinking person, especially as a child. While it was easy to dismiss the child's nasty remarks as naive and innocent, somehow my remarks seem to always cut straight to the point and hurt people. Around the age of nine, one time my family decided to visit my grandfather's orchard. Now this isn't your nice orchard where you've got gardeners and cleaners plus nice infrastructure for people to rest and relax. Nope. This is your 'in the woods' and poorly run type of orchards. Typically, our visit there wasn't much for fun but to work. There were plantations to care for, weeds to pull, shed to clean and develop.

It was pain. I couldn't fathom what on earth I was there for if all I get to do is sweat in the sun and work for no apparent reason other than my parents or grandparents telling me so. Typically, me being myself, I abhored these visits and I doubt I made any attempts to hide my displeasure. So on one fine day at the orchard, I quipped back at something and my mom told me,"why do you always say things without going through your head?"

Now I've heard that a thousand times before and in the past, I couldn't understand what it meant. But this time, it somehow dawned upon me that I always voice my opinion without really caring how it would make other people feel. That, and my lack of tact meant that everytime I spoke truthfully, someone gets hurt. Yes, the truth hurts especially when it's not laced with kindness and compassion. Since then I started to become slowly, but surely, a thinking communicator instead. What I didn't realise, was that by me slowly forcing my words through my head before they came out, I now lack the ability to be straight to the point. Instead of spear like accuracy, I began developing twist and turns in my words, sort of in my own way to hide the bare truth.

But the sarcastic part of me never really left. It just got shafted to my inner self, my subconcious. Every now and then, at times when I have least control of my thoughts, those pointed sentences come out thick and fast by the time it's over I am labeled rude, disrespectful and what not. I wasn't even a teenager yet...

Over time I ceased becoming a person easy to anger yet easy to make friends, but I started to become more recluse and introvert. Yes, I used less sarcasm, but that was because I talked less. When I do talk, I take such a long departure from the point that I either confuse or bore people. Oh yes, I agree I was boring. That's the price I had to pay to not hurt people.

Then in my days in the university, where most people begin to find themselves and what they want to do in the future (yes, some kids have their future all planned out. But for lesser beings like me, it takes much longer (and sometimes never) to find one's true calling) I had a weird conversation with an associate while hanging out at a hobby store. In that conversation, I think there was alot of dissing of certain players both for their behaviour and their poor results. The associate stated,"No matter how bad the person is, they too have self-pride. We shouldn't be bashing them up so thoughtlessly".

Again I was reminded of what my mother used to say about me. The funnier thing was that this statement came from an associate who isn't exactly the kindest person in the world. Yet he, truthfully or not, found it relevant to cut people slack. Again, I do not recall any of our personality strikes being lies, so they were just plain truths that hurt. Being upfront about it, hurts.

There lies the issue with sarcasm. Or at least when people complain about my sarcasm. Wait, the stories incomplete.

So reeling of 2 insightful statements to remind me that not everyone can handle the truth (yeah, I knew it before A Few Good Men did..:p), at one time I was helping out with a M:tG event. It was back in 2000 and KL was hosting its first ever Grand Prix and they needed people. I happily volunteered as I was no good with the game, but ruleswise I was ok. I also passed my level 1 judge test there, despite not really scoring the required passing mark, so it was all good then.

What I want to mention was one of the nights we had dinner at a nearby restaurant. The main organisers from the US were also holding an Invitational event running concurrently with the GP. That dinner, they also invited the Invitational players. One Gary Wise (only those aware of M:tG would know the name, if you've been playing long enough..:p) was seated opposite me at dinner. In one of the conversation, something came up and most of the people had a good laugh but I was clueless. I got a nice remark from Gary," You're not very good with Sarcasm, are you?"

Here I go "what?" in my head. All my life I've been blasted for being too sarcastic and here someone's telling me I'm not good enough? How rude! But that's besides the point. More importantly, I realise that sarcasm is only good for people when they don't get hurt but when they do, it's bad. The problem is, most of the time my sarcastic remarks happen IS when the person's around. Not behind their backs. It's not like I'm lying about them. I'm just making obvious, without the shadow of concealment, the plain truth that hurts. For that, I am crucified to no end.

Well, too bad people. You've got to learn to handle the truth because everyday you have to face it. Laced with kindness or not, the truth will hurt you. It's just whether you have to face the pain in front of people or in hiding. If you have a problem with me telling in your face what the truth is, then don't let me find out the truth. I aim to pull no punches. Same goes if you know of my truths. Spare me no leniency and just fire away. Fair game, this sarcasm.

I'm done trying to say nice things to people so that they don't get hurt.

Fireworks...

Bored and tired of playing Dota, I stepped into the living room hoping to entertain myself by gazing into the idiot box. It was around 8.30pm and the idiot box was showing rather idiotic things. I wonder why I pay the monthly fee these days since the shows are rather crappy over weekends. I don't watch on weekdays you see. But if I were to cancel the subscription my mother would probably give me an earful since she's at home all day (except for weekends...)..

Even while playing Dota in my room I've been hearing someone talking as though there is a party nearby. Dismissing it as probably one of my neighbour in my 24 stories apartment (or condominuim, but I don't want peple to think that I live in some really expensive place because the place is not that expensive, or classy, at all) hosting a party, I just kept ignoring the noise I hear in a futile attempt to find some entertainment via the idiot box.

Then I hear explosions and looking out my balcony I see bright colours. The explosions persist and then I realised someone was letting off fireworks nearby, around the construction sites of the semi-detach houses at the bottom of the hill my apartments occupy. Without much thought I instinctively opened up the grill to my balcony (yes, eventhough I live on the 22nd floor, it pays to be careful with home security as there are people who would climb into balconies that high up just for an easy break in) and stepped out to have a closer look.

I've watched fireworks before, but in most instances they are at least a few kilometres away and I'm usually on the ground. This time, I am at a height where the lights go bright and the loud booms are resonating throughout my apartment. The fireworks went on for a good 3-5 minutes, all the time I just stood there and witnessed the spectacle. Realising the show was finishing, as well as my proximity to the fireworks, I was somewhat worried that the finishing act might just reach me. Indeed the final blast was huge and far reaching, but luckily it didn't shoot across as far as I was worried about.

That, made my Saturday Evening. Sunday was still crap, however.

Though I want to note that while I still don't see why people like fireworks all that much, after all, it's just lights and loud noises, seeing one so close and so unexpectedly have reminded me how beautiful fireworks can be. As well as how life can spring surprises in the most unexpected of ways. The next time I hear noise like parties, I hope they have fireworks too. This time I'll try to record it on camera.

Dream, Dream, Dream......

Absolutely no idea what brought me to come up with that header, aside from the fact that every other header I wanted to use seemed like something i've used before. So here's to disjointed headings. Wait, that doesn't really work since the heading's quite complete, just that it has nothing to do with the nothing that I'm about to nothing about. Is the 'Nothing' closing in on me? Where's my own luckdragon? Heck, i could do with a little bit of luck these days..

Aside from having cheat pains at irregular intervals, in which the GP claims to be me just anxious or depressed (which is true on the later count), I'm every bit the same person as I was the last time I posted. I don't have much to talk about, my life's an utter bore (having said that, it's boring to me. it might not be boring to you, but to me it is so here's to writers right...) and I've littel reasons to post much here.

Work environs hasn't changed though I'm getting better interaction with the colleagues seated near me. But otherwise, same old same old. I'm tired of whining about work, so let's move on the my personal life.

I've been thinking about blogging on certain topics. Marriage and Divorce, Straying Men, the State of Economy in my Country (this is extremely risky as I could get myself hauled of for no reason..:p), My Sorry Life....etc.. But some how the topics just seemed either too sensitive (really, sensitive? For me?? :p) or I just don't think I have sufficient know-how to write about those topics. So I'm kind of having a writer's block recently.

I could rant about my failing heart and my constant state of depression, but that's a little too revealing. Enough to mention that my constant battle with age and the interesting things that comes with it are failing; To a point I'm almost at a loss to what I'm to do.

So enough babbling incoherently even on a blog. Let's try to get some semblance with the header/title/subject.

I recently dreamnt of a death of a person dear to me, yet even in the dream I felt so little over the death I wonder will I ever mourn the way other people do. Wait,...boring..let's try again.

I still dream to one day write down my 3 piano concertos, 2 symphonies, 3 overtures, 1 violin concerto, several piano scores and other ocherstral works. If only I'd spend less time with mindless automated activities like computer gaming and start writing. Wait, I've mention this severa times too. Broken recorder am I not?

Ok, dream. C'mon. I can do better than this.

Oh, I have a new dream car. It's known as a Mini Cooper. (not sure if I've mentioned this before...) Not any Mini Cooper (though in essence, actually, any Mini Cooper will do...:p) but one that's pimped to look like a Kelisa. I recall being asked why would I want a car that cost near half a million ringgit be pimped to look like a car that cost a tenth of it. Well, imagine being looked down upon by other drivers on a slope/highway/traffic lights thinking that they'd overpower me anytime. Then before they'd see it, vroom! I'm off and they can kiss my a$$!!! Haha. I'd still lose out to those big big luxury cars or even the sports ones, but hey, where I am, I'd probably beat around 85% of the other cars...:D

Now that's 1 dream that is new. My other 2 dreams, well.......

Maybe one day if I'm drunk I'd end up posting them here...But I can always delete them...muahahahahahahah

Now back to my boring existence...

New Toy for the Big Boy!!!!

My Digital Piano has arrived!!!!!

Yippie!!!!

It's not much, but sure cost me quite a bomb....

It even has recordings in it and some interesting selections indeed!!

Can't wait to go home tonight and continue pounding on the keys!!!

Oops...

A little useless post this is....:p

When I Laugh, (or Smile)....

When others won't, for clearly the situation doesn't warrant the humour/laughter....Most of the time it's not because I have a sadist view of most things (thought at times, I do), but simply because there is very little I can do about it.

Going back abit. I'm getting quite a lot of slack from people who know me but don't know me all that well for my ill-timed laughter or smiles. Most people write me off as being some sicko finding fun out of other's misfortune (yes, I smile/laugh at other people's misfortunes. But I laugh at my own significantly much more..) Oops. Wait, Saint Saen's Organ symphony just ended. Going to put something else on..Brahm's Tragic overture is next..

Now, where was I? Ok, so I laugh when things go wrong. Or something bad happens. It's not that I am insensitive towards the situation, but throughout my years I have turned into a person almost impervious to grief by bad luck/misfortune. Or, at least, I don't show it.

Wait, let's jump around a bit and confuse myself and anyone insane enough to read this. Take this example that happened over lunch. This new waiter serving at a food court came over to take me and my friend's orders. I wanted my good old teh tarik (pulled tea with milk) and my friend ordered Milo Ais (ice) kurang manis (less sugar). The waiter promptly went off and returned a few minutes later. In his hands were Teh O panas and Teh O panas Ais (that's tea wihout milk, and another with ice). Two completely different drinks from what we ordered. Ok, if you're not from my region/locale, the orders don't seem that different, but where I am from, they shouldn't make these mistakes. But they do.

After clearly stating the drinks we ordered and have the waiter return the drinks for correct ones, my friend commented that I seem to be enjoying myself with the waiter's incompetence. His clue was the smirk on my face. While he agreed that I wasn't in anyway making hell out of things and giving the waiter a hard time, I seemed to like the whole muck up. To him, I was having fun. But I wasn't. Fortunately for me, his comment was both blasé and direct, allowing me the opportunity to explain (Not many people allow others to explain things that seem weird to them but in reality it isn't. OR, they just find it weird. PERIOD). So I explained that my smirk wasn't because I enjoyed it, but it was just me not showing my frustration to the whole mess of things at the waiter whom I know, or believe, was new, foreign, and untrained. The reasons why he gets the job is because (most) restaurant/food court operators in my country are so selfish and profit-minded that they prefer to hire foreign labours to do jobs locals can do simply because it's probably at a fraction (possibly even a tenth) of the cost of locals. It is also not helped that locals here find jobs like that( waiting tables at coffeeshops/food courts) either demeaning (yes, (many) uneducated people in my country believes they are due a desk job that pays them well without them requiring to use much brains) or too low paying, making the bosses sometimes having no option but to look for job hungry foreigners who would take any job that will pay them ANYTIME.

So the whole muck up, while to some part, was the waiter's fault, in many ways, it wasn't. Nor will it help if I turn hostile and give the guy a good shouting or two. I still wanted him to bring me the drinks I want, and preferably not contaminated. So my response? Withold all the negative energy in me, try to it work out with the waiter and hope that he gets it right the second time. Oops. Tragic overture ended too. This is longer than I thought. Schumann's Piano Concerto it is then.

There you have it. A common occurance where you have me smiling (at times laughing with myself) when most others would either show their annoyance or anger and react negatively. I'm not saying that I am so capable of controlling my anger and all that saintly stuff. I don't. Nor do I try to. If showing anger, annoyance and frustration, in my honest opinion, gets the message across, I will, without hesitation, give it to you/them/it. Just ask the many poor sods that tried to telemarket me. But in many instances, these emotions/reaction just doesn't do the right job. So, instead of making everyone feel bad, I'll just make myself feel bad. By doing so, most people think I'm some psycho. (Which, on a different vantage point, isn't so far off bulleye :p)

The next time you see me laughing or smiling when you don't see how it can be funny, don't immediately think I'm having a good time too. I'm just not showing it. On other note, I do find it hilariously interesting how in a span of 3 months, I know of 3 persons whom I am not related to to have died. By my theories, while death is inevitable, they tend to happen over much longer periods of time; not so frequently. Must be me..

I'm Broke, By the Way...

The weekend's been quite interesting. For those familiar with me, interesting is the word I use too often as proxy to more accurate but potentially deangerous terms like; Boring, Ridiculuous, Silly, Incompetent, Unacceptable, Mess, Useless, Annoying, etc......You should get the drift.

But this weekend was interesting in essence. It was expensive, however..

I'll start off with my 2 hour trip to Sunway Lagoon. Now, I've never been much of a fun-park guy, mostly because I haven't the heart to take all the crazy G-Force they are all aimed and putting the human body through. But as with many things that hurts my heart, it has such a shoddy memory of pain that for some unknown reason I felt like doing all those crazy rides. It didn't help that my company decided to arrange the trip free for people like me (who are members of a club in the company). That, or the fact that I'm now 30+ makes me realise that if I don't try them now, I probably never will.

So after some kiddie rides I took the ship like ride that moves like a pendulum, but eventually goes all 360 when the momentum is just enough to reach the apex and fall over. Half way on the ride my heart was already giving out and I could hardly think reasonably. I couldn't scream, not sure why and all I could think off was how to survive the ride. Eventually I just focused on the floor of the 'ship' and didn't even dare to look out when I could tell I was upside down. When the whole thing was over, I couldn't wait to get off the ride. I had this weird sensation in my heart which said pretty much, "DON'T TRY THAT AGAIN"..Gladly...

After that I took some other rides and shot some paintballs. By noon I was ready for lunch and left the park soon after. Note to self: Do not ride crazy rides. Do not do them alone.

Funness...

Now what has that got to do with me being broke? Broken, maybe, but broke?

Well, yesterday I did some scouting for digital pianos/keyboards. The problem I have now is that my keyboard at home is not touch sensitive, i.e. light touch or hammer the keys I get the same sound and loudness. For casual playing that's actually good, for my piano lessons it's not good enough. I have been putting off securing a new keyboard for awhile, but with the sound of the old keyboard getting worse, I'm losing drive to practice.

So at the end of the scouting session I signed my life away for a new digital keyboard. It arrives tomorrow. Luckily for me the makers have realised a market for small digital keyboards for beginners like me that cost half as much as the bombs of normal digital keyboards and nowhere near acoustic pianos. Still, in this economic environment, I'm broke...

Oh, a quote from myself I told my (ex) boss, " Interesting Developments, Without Much Developments"....

Yet Another Bites the Dust....

Interestingly, 2 persons I've known of at work has since passed away.

One via suicide, the latest one suspected to be murdered.

My whole workplace is a gloomy place to be for the moment.

Yet all I can think about is how my Danny Murphy and Micha Richards picks for Fantasy Football turning out to be great picks!!

I don't quite know these 2 individuals that have passed away, but I have worked with them and even shared meal times with them before. Both are female, by the way. While everyone's thinking about the ordeal the latest demised would have went through hours before her time (consideirng current speculation involving foul play), I can't feel the slightest for her.

It's not the first time I felt this hollow in me. Last year a known associate lost her mother and when informed, my thought was solely on "yet another where I wouldhave to fork out money if I turned up at the funeral. I shall pass". In my memory, the closest persons who have passed away while I was mature enough to understand the passing were my grandmothers. Yet, I don't recall ever shedding a tear for either one of them. Granted, I wasn't close, but..?? Really??

I don't know, maybe if in the time my immediate family members or my parents, that time I might actually feel it. But for now, I think I'm unable to feel sad when a person dies..When a person dies, here are my immediate thoughts:

1) They do not need to suffer in life anymore
2) If they died young, that means they've done a whole lot of good for their god to take them away.
3) I don't want to go to the funeral as I don't want to pay
4) Wonder how did they go?
5) Will they realise (their soul/spirit) they are dead? For the dead that don't know/accept that they are can really give the living problems.

While I now believe going to a person's funeral is some sign of respect, I can't see myself going to one anytime soon. Unless I've some work to do...

:p

It's Been a Month!!!

Since I last blogged!!

Oh my, words escape me.. No, really, I really have little to blog. I wanted to write about educational choices and work happiness but realised the post was going from nowehere to, well, nowhere..

I'd like to blog about bread making but unless I just want to write about how crap my attempts have been, there really isn't much to write about.

I'd like to write about my love life............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................(still don't get the hint??)

I'd like to write about work but there isn't anything new to blog about..

I'd like to write about my progress with piano lessons but progress has been slow. Aside from a serious consideration (despite the poorer economic conditions) to purchase a touch sensitive electronic keyboard that should set me back around RM 3000.

I'd like to blog about any other thing, but really.......

I guess the only thing worth looking forward for the moment is this concert I'm going to go in 10 days time..Should be fun...

Hope it's fun....

Shaking Hands...

Literally, shaking hands. As in 2 right hands phyisically in embrace in a show of gratitude or just greeting.

So what gives with the topic? Well, I am generally a non-physical person, to an extent even handshakes are avoided. As greetings I'd say the occasional hi, or even just a raise of a brow signifies the standard 'yes I see you and acknowledge your presence' indication when dealing with people. Of course, in more official situations, i.e. at work, I'd follow the customary expectations. However, I still flinch whenever I have to deal with visitors from abroad whom tend to have rather elaborate hi's and bye's.

Having said that, Last Sunday I probably shook more hands (and all different set of hands!) then I have for the past, erm, 20 years?? Oh, I guess I'm ahead of myself here.

Before going on, I should do the customary shout out to my friend who, after 2 wedding receptions, should now be officially married enough for the previous generation to accept him to their fold and stop treating him (and his wife) like single people. :P In any case, long be your marriage, fruitful (pun intended) and fulfilling (that just came out of a blue). Enjoy being on the giving end of all the nasty marriage jokes. :D :D!!

Ok, back to shaking hands. Ok, maybe not.

I have recently developed a fear of weddings and, well, most social gatherings that I have basically put up a huge sign saying, "Ignore me for wedding invites!" (it's invisible, but they know its there...). I have skipped a number of weddings since acquiring this phobia so much that even my mom is annoyed as she too has had to turn down some of the invites from my relatives as she doesn't want to go there alone (I offered to drive her but not attend, you see...:p). With this friend's wedding, the crux was that it was in a format of a buffet, rather than a sitdown, therefore I actually could turn up, feast and leave without saying a word. (Almost makes me feel like a wedding crasher/free-loader with an invite...:D). But as I have told everyone who wanted to invite me to their wedding, I would prefer to be involved/helping, but if I'm just to go (and in Chinese weddings, to go and pay; which after last weekend isn't clearly true anymore, but you'll see..) then I'd rather not. The phobia is the real reason, but I don't think anyone would believe or accept I really have one. They'd rather accept that I'm a stingy (little doesn't fit me very well) big %^$*%& who just wouldn't pay up when someone I know gets married.

So luckily for me my, friend decides that he probably needs some manual labour who'd be free (and even pay for his own transport, hahaha!) so he decided to ask for my help. Initially I had a very simple assignment for his wedding; Ensure a certain area in the parking lot was reserved for the in-laws. When the kompangs (traditional malay timpani/tramborine of sorts) sounded, my duty is done and I'm free to wine and dine...Ok, no wine, but dine or more correctly, lunch...as I wish. Unfortunately, due to some technical reasons the parking area wasn't cordone off and by the time I arrived on Sunday morning, I was jobless..

Ok, since I wasn't getting paid, jobless would be a little off. Assignment-less. But I was already there and even given some pin-up thing (I don't know what it's called, but its meant to be pinned on my shirt) to identify me as one of the 'workers' (While I'm writing this I'm getting some really distracting influences I just can't make up better words...sigh...). The next thing I know I was asked to help ushering.

All of a sudden, from me assigned to doing something I relish (yes, telling people "NO, YOU CAN'T PARK HERE" is something I relish doing), I ended up being the (few) guy greeting every guest coming to my friend's wedding. I was not, of course, prepared in any way for the task at hand. Suffice to say I spent the first 30 or so minutes avoiding the guests in someway so that I don't have to shake their hands. Eventually, I just got used to the gesture. It was also easier when some of the guest were mutual associates of ours whom the parents ( the other people ushering the guests) weren't familiar with.

By the time the kompangs sounded, (which also included the expected delay of the arrival of the bride and groom..) I have somewhat gotten into the groove of shaking hands. Not to say I'm now a 'shake hands' person, but on that day maybe I was. I'm back to being me, ofcourse...:P

That, explains why shaking hands is the title of this post..

Oh, before I forget, it is no longer just the Chinese who practice giving money when attending a wedding reception. Even this wedding (he is Malay) the practice was quite apparent. While some still turn up with presents, a vast majority of the guest gave moeny (or small envelope of something, which could very well contain some love letters, secret messages and even recipes of the unspoken kind...:p But I'll just assume they are cash). So eventually weddings will be business transactions. I.e. I'm getting married, I'll come up with the capital to host a reception and everyone I invite will help pay it off. I'm guessing this was definitely NOT the reason why people host wedding receptions in the first place, but by pracicing the giving of cash, it will sooner or later turn into one.

Why do I care? I'm neither getting married nor attending a wedding reception (which I am expected to pay for) anyway???

The thing about domestic helpers (aka maids)...

But in my opinion, from the stories I hear from colleagues, more like legal slaves....

To be frank, I don't employ one probably because I don't earn enough to afford one and luckily my mom (who lives with me, haha!) is willing to help out with the household management. Most of the time I (and my other siblings) contribute financially as and when funds is required. So I haven't experienced the 'luxury' of having someone non-related do all the work 24/7...Or more or less that way. I do, however, have cleaners coming weekly to do the standard household chores over several hours. That, is somewhat affordable.

So I shouldn't complain when other people CAN afford hiring/employing another person to do the whole household administration for them. It's an improvement in quality of life for them, and provides employment for the hired help.

For sheer economic sense, in most instances these hired help are non-local. While Malaysians are still cheaper than many countries (which explains why so much work gets moved here, as well as why I have a job..), labour cost of a Malaysian is unfortunately more expensive than most Malaysian can afford. Hence we go plundering our poorer neighbours. Unfortunately, them being our poorer neighbours, are not as educated as Malaysians. But the rise in Quality of life (and to some extent, better currency), attracts them by the loads.

So many Malaysian families get to play employer, even when they don't own a business but jobs which may have more than 10 bosses who could dictate their work/play hours everyday. The cool part is that since their all foreign labours, aside from the need to either survive through the red tape of employing one or paying off to expedite the process (note: this is merely speculation. I have no proof you can PAY OFF to expedite the process), they have very little 'employer' issues which they have to deal with.

No Annual Leave, Medical Insurance, Accident Insurance, Off Days, Allowances, Sick Days, Promotion, Pay Rise, etc.. They hire them with 1 fixed salary, and that goes on for as long as the 'maid' sticks around. (Ok, some more reasonable employer may give salary increases, but, really, who am I trying to bull?). The 'maid', considering that they 'live in', basically begins work when they wake up and do not stop until they sleep. You can argue they get to rest as and when the chores are done. But if anyone of us working for a proper company is on call 24/7, we're WORKING. Hence so are they. Even if they aren't actually doing work (Not that all of us actually work throughout our 8-9 hours daily either...)

Not only do they not have to deal with all things an employer should be mindful of, because of the amount of financial commitment involved, they also go to an extent to control the lives of these maids. Who they speak with, what they do when they're not at 'work', what they do with their money, how they dress, etc. I can understand that they are merely looking after their own interest; to ensure that the one person they rely on so much to support their 'improved' Quality of life, they need these maids to do nothing but care for their family and households and have no intention on furthering their own interests.

So if you're a foreign maid of a poorer nation than Malaysia employed in Malaysia, you can forget about going out to meet people and new friends, meeting old and known ones, falling in love, getting married, getting laid, having hobbies, personal time, etc... Unless your 'employer' is ok (or in some cases, involved...:p) OR, you have to do it hush hush. As with all secret rendevouz, they rarely become anything good for any party, except maybe...Maybe the parties involved.

So looking from a 3rd party's perspective, I see the hirers as slavers and the hired, slaves. Why so? Because the hirers do not offer the same, or somewhat equal amount of freedom that they have to their hired ones. While the hirer can go about doing all things that we, as human beings, believe is our right, the hired seemed to have signed that right away. When the hired do, at some point decide to do these things (falling in love, getting married, wanting to do something else other than being at 'this employers' beck and call), the hirers cry blue murder and act as though they never had it coming and deserved so much more for all that they've done for the hired.

If all proper companies did that, we'd all be slaves, no? (Ok, for the select few that actually have jobs. Does not apply to does whose job is to employ people. :p)

As I mentioned at the start, all this dawned on me after hearing the many sob stories of my colleagues who do employ maids (I seem to be calling them all sorts of stuff, but they all should mean the same thing). When their maids runaway, or leave, they have all these sob stories to tell. But when you listen to how they actually treat their maids, you'd wonder who in the right mind would have stayed? I mean, yes, the opportunity to work for them is an upgrade of quality of life..But human nature dictates that we will always want better, and other things. These maids are no different. Back where they were maybe they couldn't find enough for 3 meals, so working abroad is godsent. But once they're here, 3 meals isn't quite enough. They will see there is more out there. As much as they may (or may not) appreciate what these employers have done for them (like saving them from the hell hole they were before), it's counts for almost nothing when it's no longer enough. We, appreciate our current bosses/employers for giving us this job. BUT when someone/something better comes, are we going to say no and stick around anyway? (yeah yeah, those who know me would say that I'm one of those who might stay...But I'm not being discussed here...)

NO. AND no one in our right mind would say we are evil and ungrateful (ok, maybe sometimes, but generally speaking....) Yet these maids are thought off as such.

I pity these maids. At the same time I pity the employers as well. Some of them are really nice people. But once they experience the power of being able to dictate a person's life (and they are not kin...), they lose sight that their maids are as much human as they are with the same needs et all, only less fortunate. Treating them any less makes them devils in disguise. If only they'd realise that.

But then again, that's just me seeing from the outside. I'm sure if I were in their shoes I'd probably end up doing the same thing too. Which is why if I can I'd rather not employ a maid (IMHO, having cleaners come periodically doesn't count as they're a service, not employed by me..:p) I now see how appropriate it is when I was a child to help out at home, even when most of my peers were happily playing outside or with their console games.

That's all the rant for the moment.

Never Underestimate the Kindness of Humanity....Final Part of HK Trip

This isn't much of a epilogue or anything, but just a few things I'd like to write before I completely forget the HK trip and wondered what I did the first week of December in 2008.

The most important thing is that I'm really thankful and grateful of my host in HK. He has been so accomodating and helpful in making the whole HK trip possible. As I've mentioned earlier, I don't actually know him all that much. But the trip has given me a chance to know him a little more and really, even now, I still don't quite get what made me deserve such a good host. Now if only my future trips abroad I'd have such great host as well, I'd travel a whole lot more..

At the same time, it makes me think that when it's my turn to play host, I'd have his standards to meet or exceed, which is quite alot. It's not really so much of the free lodging and meals (he did buy me a meal here and there), but more to the whole 'hosting' ettiquette which is most impressive. I don't really know how else to say it, but a whole lot of thanks.

Secondly, I'd say that if given a choice (and no skin allergies to boot), I wouldn't mind living/working in HK. But I wouldn't want to raise a family there, as it's just too fast I think. Yet to think they've got so many people living in such a small place. I saw so many teenagers out at night at Mong Kok, I wonder if the parents could have some control to where the kids go. With everyone using the trains/subways et all, travel is too convenient, I believe. Respect to those who dared to be parents in HK (for those who actually made a thoughtful decision...)

Thirdly, be prepared to walk a whole freaking lot when travelling abroad. I didn't, hence the knees. Also, bring allergy medication just in case.

Lastly, Nothing beats being able to drive. To think I dodge that for 29 years...Such silly silly boy...

Ok, enough blogging for now....Hope this will be a good read in times to come.....

Sin is IN...Part 6 of HK trip

Ok,

let me check where I am again..I've told about the days in training, the day without training and the day going to the buddha and back.

Instead of going straight home after a tiring climb up the Buddha's hill and then a ride to the edge of Hong Kong to an unfamiliar fishing village, it was around 6pm-ish and my host suggested we go to Mong Kok. Initially i wanted to go to Mong Kok because I was there with my guy colleagues on Thursday and found a Camel shoe that cost less than RM 200. However, because I got myself a jacket that day, I decided against further spending in an effort to avoid going on a spree.

So we took the train back to Kowloon area and boy, was it a packed train. Now, in the past few days I've been in Hong Kong, all the while the trains have been well occupied but not crowded. This time, however it was. To the brim. I guess that's what happens when you take the train from one end of the line to almost the other end of the line.

About 45 minutes later we arrived at Mong Kok. Other than hunting for my shoes, my host wanted me to try out the street food which is kind of famous in HK. While the shoes were hard to find, the food was not. The sky was already dark, but the streets were brighter than ever. Hong Kong sure knows how to use electricity.



Now I know street food is not healthy. I also hear people say 'chou tau fu' is not healthy either. But if you're going to be in HK once every 10 or so years, without really knowing if you'll ever return in your lifetime, too bad for health. I went for the broke. I had 2 pieces of 'chow tau fu', grilled squid, fish balls and even some gizzards. Yum. Sinful, but who cares? (Ok, you weren't expecting any OTHER kind of sin, were you? ME? That? how can??) But that wasn't the only sin I committed that night. Oh, just like to comment that there were probably as many kids/teenagers as there were adults on the streets that night...Scary...

My host was constantly on a look out for new games for his PS3. In addition, he is a collector of miniature robots, like Gundam and such. HK is like a haven for people with that interest as they seem to be selling them everywhere. So while I was limping my way through Mong Kok (by now my knees were killing me softly. It's nice that for the first time it's my knees giving me aches and not my feet. I DID WALK ALOT, you know...) we went around the area looking for toys and games. To think we're both over 30. Anyone believing in the New Testament stating 30 makes a man, man should rethink as we're both hardly men. (Ok, he's probably more since he's got a wife and kids to boot. No offence to the wife and kids as I don't literally mean they get booted like Beckham from Fergie or Bush from the Iraqi journalist, but you get my drift).

So one of the shops we stopped by actually sold PC games. Another quick aside, I've been looking for this PC game Neverwinter Nights 2 for a long, long while. There's lots of it sold in Malaysia, but they're not original. They don't sell the original in Malaysia (or my lousy hunting skills found nothing) and I can't buy them online as they don't ship to Malaysia (they won't let me download them either..zzz). So here was I, finding a copy of the game, in it's original form. I was hoping it was and incompatible copy, as most, if not all games in HK are in Chinese. A quick ask and the shopkeeper told me the one on display is the ONLY ENGLISH copy he has. I asked my host if I should buy and his reply was (somewhat like this) " You're asking a gamer. I don't wait until it's old so that I buy them off cheap".

Suffice to say my credit card had another charge from HK for about HKD 290. This game was more expensive than my jacket, mind you...(Sorry to disappoint anyone expecting more juicy 'sinful' stories. hehe). After that, I told my host I'm not getting the shoe as I didn't want to bust my budget. I actually could afford it (I actually manage my credit card quite well, mind you..:P) but as the other day, key to stemming a spree is to stop short from starting it.

The rest of the day/night was relatively uneventful. No, I didn't bathe in cold water again as I already knew how to operate the heater by now. Oh, it's still bloody cold.


*******

Saturday was a slow day. My host I guess had a long night as I slept much earlier than he did. By the time he woke up it was already afternoon.

The plan was lunch, then Star Ferry. HK still has this ferry service that gets people from the island to Kowloon, at only HKD 2.20. As usual, its not exactly light speed when you compare to the other transportation services available. But it was quite crowded as well. I mean, I'm not the only tourist you know..

I'm thinking and thinking and I can't recall what I had for lunch. It was something, I guess. So we went to the Star Ferry after a train ride. The ferries look a little old, but it was still fun to ride. I mean, at HKD 2.20, who cares?



That's me posing inside the ferry. Must have done something right since my eyes returned. Wonder if doing sinful things have anything to do with it?



That's a picture I took while I was on the ferry. I have no idea what it is or where it is, but of the other pictures I also took, this looked best.



Alighting on the other side, we were just next to Harbour City, another huge shopping complex. Oh, I must have forgotten to mention, HK is just one big shopping complex after another. No wonder the people earn so much, since retail theraphy is probably the most convenient one they'll find to kill the stress/blues.



I wanted to show more of the majestic deco the entrance had, but again poor skills *whisper* (equipment) let me down. There was a cruise ship docked nest to the complex, but the picture had my host in it so lack of photoshopping expertise meant that picture got the cut (the irony, hehe..)

A lot of walking and window shopping later, we decided to walk to the nearest MTR station, which neither of us knew where it was. Asking the locals only got us in the right direction, but somehow we seem to miss the nearest station anyway and walked all the way to the next one. By now my knees really, really hurt but somehow being on a holiday kind of helped me keep walking.

My host needed to get some movie tickets for the next day, so we ended up stopping somewhere in the middle of the MTR line and went to yet another shopping complex. The only thing worth mentioning was how my host proved to be a Sony faithful when he bought a Sony camera after asking several stores and finding the cheapest one. No, he didn't ask about other brands, just Sony.

It was getting late, so it's time to return home. My host suggested dinner near the apartment as there's suppose to be some nice 'low mien' for me to try. I also finally caved in and tried HK's chilli oil. It's like sambal in Malaysia, except that it's oil. Just oil. (Ok, some colouring and maybe chilli, but mostly you only see oil). I also bought some egg tarts from the restaurant we had dinner with, since everyone said their egg tarts were good. Me? So so only.....hehehe

Oops. Somewhere between the night on Friday and the night on Saturday, I returned to Sogo to buy some 'wife biscuits' (lou poh pang). It was the only biscuit I knew it's kind of HK specific and because I bought it for my Singapore colleague on Wednesday night while he went clubbing, I had some experience in getting 'that'. It was funny as I started of asking for a box of 'wife biscuit', but noticed there were other things there that wasn't too expensive. (The 'wife biscuits' were HKD 4 each. A box holds 6). So I asked for 1 each of 2 other kinds of biscuits, only to try them after a short while and found them nice. So I brought my host a round back to the same shop so I could get more biscuits. Last I checked, they were a hit back home. I obvious didn't buy enough. Unfortunately now I don't know what they're called either..hahaha..

Back to Saturday night, after dinner, my host asked if I wanted to check out the club house. Inside they had an indoor pool, 4 bowling alleys, snooker, pool, badminton courts, tennis courts, some space for boardgames and most importantly, a music room. If only I knew! I'd have sneaked in and destroy the piano!! muahahahaha. He did ask if I wanted to bowl, but by now my knees were close to giving way so that option wasn't taken up. I probably saved myself some humiliation anyway...

There was a picture taken outside his apartment compound, but it looks a little out of focus (my skills are bad, but my hosts are.....ahem...:P). Back in the apartment, we played Winning 11 and I got trashed. Well, he did have the PS3 and all I have is some rundown PC. Besides, I have the dexterity of a klutz.

******

On the final morning in Hong Kong we did what all hongkies love doing. It's 'yum cha'. That's just people visiting a nearby reataurant, order a pot of tea and then random dim sum to spend the day. my host says some older folks actually spend the whole day that way. To think the restaurants make it a point to cycle through customers as fast as possible, I guess it's not happening in a 'yum cha' place.

What I do like about HK dim sum is that the ingredients are really good. They use large prawns for their 'har kau' and in most of their dim sum, you don't get this feeling of being cheated with inferior ingredients. Its the expectation there anyway, and as with the rest of HK, the expectations of quality and service is way higher than I am used to. Not like I mind one bit, but definitely hope the standards can be met back home.....alas.....

As I was about to leave, I couldn't help thinking that I never tried their 'siew yuk' as well as Burger King. With my plane leaving at 3.50pm, I knew if the airport had Burger King then I'd have time to taste it. So as I leave the dim sum restaurant, the sight of them hanging the 'siew yuk' to dry just did it for me. before you know it, I had a takeaway of 'siew yuk' (which cost me HKD 44). I had plan it to complement my Burger King as lunch, but, as you'll find out later, didn't quite work out.

It's time to go. It so happened that from my hosts place there is a bus that sends me all the way to the airport for a meagre HKD 22. Also, it's a double decker bus!!



I tried my level best to take a proper photo of myself on the bus, but that's just as good as it gets. I got on the bus at 11am, expecting the ride to take an hour or so. However, since it was a Sunday there was hardly any traffic and the ride was faster. But, as highways are and always will be boring, so was the ride. Luckiliy some random person decides to sms me while I was on the way, so that kept me busy for a while. :)

I arrived the airport slightly before 12pm and proceeded to check in. Little did I know that the ground crew was going to offer me a seat on the plane departing at 12.55pm! I was worried that my 'siew yuk' would be a problem, as it's neither properly wrapped or can I eat it straight away as I was still quite full from breakfast. The crew thought nothing of it and before long, I was racing away to the customs to avoid missing my plane! (I know I should have waited for my own plane, in that way no rush at all, but really, who wants to wait in the airport for 3 hours??)

All that rushing meant 2 things; 1) I couldn't eat my 'siew yuk', so I'll have to take that back home. I hope customs doesn't decide to have a look, as they might not fancy the smell or the sight. 2) My Burger King!!! :(( I had no time to queue for a Whopper as the time it took me to get to my terminal was longer than I expected. Burger King is a big miss for me.....:(

The flight back was a complete non-event except for the fact I already planned to watch Dark Knight on the return flight, only for them to have a broken copy of the movie on board! I ended up watching X-Files, which was crap. sigh..

5 hours after departing and saying goodbye to HK, I was back home again.....

It has been fun, so i'll list my thoughts and learnings in the next post!

A day to waste away in HK....Part 5 of the HK trip

It is now Friday, 5th December 2008. My host has an early morning meeting at work, so I am to follow him to the island in the morning. As I've always been, I'm an early riser when I'm not at home (even now, when I'm at home, I wake up too early, I think...) but my host was not as early as me. When he did wake up, I was already playing with his PS3 :D. He asked me if I used the heater to shower the night before, so I told him I didn't (and he had a good laugh). Luckily for me he forgot to turn off the heater overnight so when I bathed in the morning I didn't have to do cold water!

Since he was running a little late for his meeting, he showed me a place where they have nice beef noodles so that I can try them for breakfast. Now, the morning before my pork chop with tea came to about HKD 30, so imagine my surprise when my beef noodles only cost HKD 15! So I got itchy fingers and decided to order a bowl of beef balls as well. The beef balls were quite big and there was around 7 of them I think, but.....The beef balls cost HKD 19! Should have just stuck with the noodles.

I had time to kill after breakfast and it was quite awkward to eat without something to read. I did hope to get some free paper near the MTR station as they generally do give them away the previous mornings, but this morning I had no luck. Also, my knees were getting worse so I kept having to find pathways that did not include stairs down.

Since I had time to kill while waiting for my host to finish with his meeting, I decided to do a little exploring around the area until my knees gave up. I walked and walked and walked so much I found myself at the shopping complex of the next station, which, is none other than City Plaza. Seeing that I've walked a little too far, I tracked back just in time to meet up with my host who finished his meeting.

Now the plan for the day was some tram rides and a visit to the giant Buddha in Lantau Island. These trams are old and still run through the HK island, so I thought it'd be nice to hop on one of them. It only cost HKD 2 per person anyway. Aside from it's slow pace, it did provide an opportunity to see HK island. Though with my limited view, all I see is shops at the ground levels and losts of apartments above them..Everywhere..



That's taken from a tram.

After we got off the tram we took the train to Lantau Island where the Buddha thing was at the last stop. The train ride was somewhat uneventful so much that I think we both dozed off. We got off at the last stop and was surprised that there weren't any clear signs to lead us to the Buddha. Seems like everyone in HK knows how to get there, so don't mind the tourist. My host hasn't been there either, so we had to walk around a bit before finding the cable car stations. Hongkies call it 360, which is what it's named anyway. Don't know how that name came to be.

Arriving at the cable car station the prices to get on the cable car was quite steep. HKD 96 return. If you wanted to check out their display rooms, then it's HKD 130ish I think. Since neither one of us were keen with the showrooms/display rooms, we went for just the ride up.

The cable ride was interesting enough. Had a good view of the HK airport too.


Unfortunately my photography skills betray me. I'd like to blame the camera too, but since it isn't mine, better not say too much else I might not even get to borrow it the next time.

Oh, the customary..


Don't ask me where my eyes went. I don't know. Didn't notice it when I took the picture and don't know how to photoshop it. Too bad.

Arriving at the place, there were some shops laid out along the pathway, which supposedly used to be the village. Funnily enough we decided to have some icecream, despite us being about 300-400 feet above sea level and in Winter. A short trek later here's the giant arch to welcome tourist



Here's the hill next to it



Now, this Buddha is strategically located right up the hill (not up that hill, but the one I'm on, which you'll see better later), so there's a couple of hundred steps to climb before being within proper distance to take a picture. At the foot of the steps, there's this thing



Which I really don't know what it was. It was huge, so I figure worth taking a picture off.

Now for those who read my Batu Caves adventure, here's another Ego trip for me. Know that I had knees that were in pain. Yet suprisingly, I had no problems climbing the stairs, unlike my happily settled host, who needed several stops before we reach the top. Dejavu for me, except that one is already married while the earlier one (in Batu Caves) is getting to it.



Here's big old Buddha. Don't ask me why, I don't know. I do know that there's suppose to be an inner sanctum of sorts within, but you'd have to have paid for vegetarian meal below before they'd let you go in. Surronding the Buddha is these six







Aside from these 6 sculptures and lots of tourist, there isn't much to describe or to take photos off.

Then came the real problem. You see, while I have no problems going up, my knees have a problem going down. Don't ask me why, I don't know either. I just know they hurt everytime I go one step down. And this is 250+ steps down...



Pain....Real pain..

Though for some reason after the steps me and my host still feels up for some more travelling. Earlier in the day we meet up with some of my host's colleagues before we got on the tram for a short breafast. In the discussion, there was talks about this fishing village that sold salted fish. While I'm not the type to buy souveniers home for random people, I am the type to buy food back if I can and salted fish was a good option. In the conversation they mentioned it's just a bus ride away and closeby to the '360' thingy. So after we returned via cable car, the fishing village was our next stop.

The bus itself was rather ordinary and the ride was kinda boring. Suffice to say dozing off was yet another preferred pasttime. About an hour later we arrived only to find it IS, indeed, just a fishing village.



There were no nice lights or was it bustling with people. It was quiet and there was a fishy smell in the air. It took us less than 20 minutes to explore the whole place. Randomly picking a store, I bought 2 salted fish and then we were back to catching the bus ride.

Even now, I still wonder why I spent 2 hours, HKD 23.60 (bus fare) just to buy 2 salted fish worht HKD 50. Silly boy..

But the day isn't over. Ok, the day is, but the night was still young..(hehe, if you think something indulgent and sinful is coming up, you are correct!)

But then again, this is still me doing the writing, you know.....

Now the adventure really begins.....Part 4 of the HK Trip

And I waited...

Ok, I didn't really have to wait too long before a smiling familiar face turned up around 6.50pm-ish. It did look like a flabbier face than I last remember it, but being chinese and what they say about growing horizontally once married is an indication of happiness in life, I thought nothing negative of it.

Oh, in any case, yes, my host, a Malaysian working in Hong Kong, did turn up. (Hereon referred to as host as I'm not sure he'd like it so much if I name him). He just finished work, or to be more accurate, he's on half day leave. A brief hello (like we meet each other everyday) later I was asked to re-enter the MTR as we were going off to his place which is near a MTR station. (Unfortunately, I can't for the life of me remember the station. It's in Kowloon though...)

3 stops (I think) later, my host asked me to disembark and lo and behold, his apartment is right above the station. Like, really, above it. Some 20 odd stories above (I also forgot what floor, sigh..Growing old I say..) Interestingly getting from the station exit to his apartment lifts required us to go through 3 'gates' which he doesn't fancy much but I think it's good security. A bit of a walk around the area later and a ride up the apartment lifts I find myself at his home.

It was a nice 2-room apartment, though for a person used to Malaysian sized apartments (and one living now in a 1500 square feet(sf) place) you'd find the apartments small and expensive. His was just shy of 800 sf, but cost a whopping HKD 3 million! Ok, so HK real estate is a killer, if you don't know by now. But his apartment is very convenient and has great facilities too (unfortunately, he only showed them to me on my final night there.) Luckily for me his wife and kids have recently returned to Malaysia, so I didn't have to sleep on the couch. Unfortunately, however, nothing really beats sleeping in your own bed at home, so I still had some adjusting to do. Not to mention the cold. So so cold (Ok, it's only because this dumb bloke hasn't spent near 0.01% of his lifetime in any climate other than hot, humid, Malaysian like weather (Singapore's no better), so winter IS a PROBLEM). Oh, I also had rashes ALL OVER MY BODY.......

Enough rambling. Dropping off my luggage, we went to dinner at a standard HK 'restaurant' which is much like coffee shops in Malaysia except its the same dudes that serve you drinks that serve you food. One day a Malaysian should go there and bring them the concept of owning a place, sell drinks and have loads of other blokes sell food for you. I don't recall what I ate, but it wasn't anything spectacular. As it was already getting late, we ended up walking around the complexes there and my host decided to drop by a console game shop to get his latest fixes.

You see, I didn't know that my host was quite an avid gamer. He owns a PS3 at home and has several PSPs for him and his family. So suffice to say I was never short of entertainment whenever we we resting at his place. This is turning into a great holiday! Muahahaha

Oh, a quick note about the bathroom. It's like this cool bathroom even though it's quite compact with bathtub and shower. Considering it was cold, I obviously needed hot water. But while I was getting ready to bathe, my host was having an 'in-depth' conversation via skype with his sister and I couldn't find myself to trouble him and ask how to activate the heater. So there I was, already shivering in the cold, bathing in COLD WATER!! brrrrrrrrrrrbrrrrrrrrrbrrrrrrr....

So, I'm not going to spend 3 nights 3 days in HK playing console games, am I?

Seen from my bedroom window...